Chapter 3

Making Ends Meet

알바생

(Part-Time Worker)

“So tired,” she sighed and gently laid her head on the desk. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, but then sat back up and patted both her cheeks. “Snap out of it, Joohyun, you’ve got to do this.”

Joohyun only had a couple hours to study for a bit before heading to her next class. Her schedule was tight, maybe more constricting than her skinny jeans at times. She had classes during the day and an internship in the evening. Weekends were a similar story. On weekend mornings, she worked as a cashier at a bakery, and on evenings she worked as a waitress at a Chinese restaurant. She did not have any time for rest on weekends either.

What about meals? She usually had little time for those. So, she often took a sandwich or whatever she could buy from the convenience store, and snack on them during her free time or while studying in the library. Although a set meal time did not exist for her this new semester, she still made sure to eat whenever she can. Skipping meals were never an option for her. She still strived to be somewhat healthy by not starving herself, and her appetite would never let her fast for too long. So then, she took out a triangle kimbap and a carton of milk. The kimbap was unwrapped and the carton was torn open. Please bless this meal…

Joohyun took out her textbooks and notebook and began flipping pages while munching on her kimbap. After a while, she stopped flipping and just sat still for a while. At that moment in time, everything seemed to have frozen in place. She was not moving; nothing was moving. If it were not for the ticking hands on her wristwatch, there would have been an illusion of time standing still for every moment she stopped moving. If time could actually stop flowin’ so that I can rest for a while, that’a be great, she thought. Then she continued flipping through her textbook.

Life was rather lonely, but Joohyun was used to it. She had always been the mysterious cold beauty—so quiet, yet so stunning—like an unmoving image of a superstar. Other than her good genes, her unequalled introversion earned her that nickname. Even during her first year of college (when it was mostly about the socials: drinking parties, overnight “membership training” retreats, and club activities) she barely did any socializing. She was not the most outgoing lass; she tended to avoid those socials whenever she could. Besides, college kids drink a lot of beer in most socials, and she never liked beer. She preferred to study alone and work hard on her assignments to maintain her reputation as a straight-A student. Because of that, it was hard for people to approach her. Because of that, she barely had any friends.

I didn’t really get to study much yesterday, ‘cause Seulgi kept askin’ me for help. Wonder if my time with Seulgi helped her out a bit with her studies. I sure hope so..., Joohyun’s thoughts wandered on. She really enjoyed meeting Seulgi and thought of her all through last night. Seulgi made her smile—made her laugh—made her forget about all her troubles. It has been a long time since she felt genuinely happy like that. Guess I’ve been quite lonely for a while.

The rest of the day was not particularly interesting. She studied for a while and then went off to work on her internship at a broadcasting station. At the end of the day, she flopped herself down on the bed of her dorm room with a sigh. Long day. Tomorrow will be another long one, I suppose.

***

Saturday came and soon-to-be “Baker Queen” Wendy headed off to apply for a part-time job at the bakery she was talking about a few days ago. She got up before daybreak that day just to bake a fresh batch of red velvet cupcakes as a sample for the bakery owner to try.

They’re baked with love. The boss shouldn’t be disappointed! she thought to herself.

Although the amateur has zero experience at a real bakery, she wanted to show that she already has a lot of knowledge and skill for the job. It was her passion after all—to bring love and happiness through these sweet delights.

This little sweet-heart, Wendy Son, grew up in Ontario, Canada, and spent most of her younger days dreaming of visiting Korea. Why Korea? Korea was her parents’ homeland. She was actually born in Seoul, but her family moved to Canada when she was still very young to even remember anything about her motherland. When she found out that her school was hosting an exchange program sending students to certain countries (including South Korea), Wendy knew she had to grab the opportunity immediately.

Wendy neatly placed four cupcakes in a small container and set it aside. She actually baked twelve cupcakes—the rest is for Seulgi and her family, and maybe even Soo-Young, just in case Soo-Young decided to visit.

Although she did not have many connections in Korea, she always thought of Seulgi’s family and Soo-Young as her own little family. Her warm, thoughtful personality brought everyone lots of blessing as well. Her rosy outlook on life made her loveable. Although a top-notch student, she was also humble, so Seulgi’s and Soo-Young’s parents often liked to compare their child to her. Seulgi and Soo-Young found that annoying at times, but they still love her.

By 8 a.m., Seulgi was still sleeping, so Wendy left a small note on the fridge for her. “Seulgi, I left some cupcakes for you! Baked them with love. Share some with Soo-Youngie.”

With high hopes and an excited heart, Wendy left the house that bright, sunny morning with her cupcakes in hand. The bus ride took about an hour that day—an hour too long. The anticipation made her want to burst. Her little dream was so close; she could already taste the sweetness of it.

Before she came to Korea and met her two best friends, she did not know what to do with her life. She never really thought of making sweet pastry for a living, but after all the encouragement from her friends Seulgi and Soo-Young, a dream had culminated in her.

Unlike Seulgi, Wendy had no plans on going to college, so she was not studying hard for the college entrance exams. (Although she probably could ace her exams if she wanted to pursue college in Korea.) Now that she could potentially be hired, a whole new realm of possibilities was opened to her. She could practice here and maybe get into culinary school after high school. Oh, the future is so bright; it is blinding!

Finally, the bus stopped and she hopped off, but when she got there, she found that the doors of the bakery were still closed.

“Huh? It seems I got here early,” Wendy mumbled to herself as she stood before the steel shutter. “The Red Bread is a decent name for a bakery though…”

As Wendy was standing before the rolling shutter, she heard a soft voice—almost like a whisper—from behind her.

“Um, excuse me…,” said the voice. When Wendy turned around, she saw a girl with long black hair and a pale, pretty face, staring back at her without even trying to hide the confusion in her beautifully cold eyes. The girl awkwardly smiled and bit her lip before holding up a set of keys and adding, “I need to, uh, open up shop.”

Wendy’s eyes grew twice their size; turned into the shape of an O. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry!” Wendy felt chills run down her spine. Is she the owner? My future boss? Goodness gracious, she is so young and pretty! And I just blocked her path! Oh, hell no, this cannot be real right now! Okay, wait, calm down, Wendy, you can do this!

The lady slightly bowed to Wendy and went ahead to unlock the rolling shutter from the ground.

“Are you perhaps the shop owner?” Wendy asked.

The lady raised the shutter half-way before responding. “No, I work here part-time.”

“Oh,” Wendy said with a sigh of relief. “I saw the wanted ad the other day and was wondering if I could apply for a job during weekends.”

Once the lady was done raising the shutter and unlocking the glass door, she said with a hint of her Gyeongsang Province accent, “The shop owner usually ain’t around ‘til 10 o’clock on weekends.”

“I can wait,” Wendy said with determination.

The lady stared at Wendy with a skeptical look on her face. “Are you sure? That’s about an hour from now.”

“Yes,” Wendy said that rather stiffly, like she was unsure of herself either, but her determination to get this job was stronger than her doubts.

“Okay…” The lady opened the glass door and escorted Wendy inside the small bakery. It was quiet and dark until the lights flashed open. “Welcome.”

Inside the little bread shop was a small wonderland of vintage décor and dainty bread boxes and baskets. The shop usually did not open until 10:30 a.m. on weekends, so most of the stock were still either off-display or yet to be baked. Wendy marveled at the unfurnished state of the place. Her round eyes were filled with life and glistened at the sight of what went down behind the scenes of the bread business’s preparation. She had never been to a bakery during off-business hours before.

“What’s your name?” asked the lady who worked at the bakery, interrupting Wendy’s brief moment of wonder.

Wendy then enthusiastically began to introduce herself. “My name is Son Wendy. Please call me Wendy.”

The lady’s stare did not waver and asked, “Hmm… Wendy?” A foreign name. “Where are you from? How old are you? You seem to be very young.”

“I’m from Canada and I’m currently a high school senior,” Wendy shyly said. But then her tone became filled with drive again, “But I assure you I can be reliable with this job!”

The other girl chuckled at the sight of Wendy’s sudden shift of mood. It was the first time Wendy saw her smile. The smile did not help though. Wendy still felt uneasy and began to enumerate all the possible reasons why she would chuckle at her words. She could have chuckled because she found her strange, ridiculous, and what not. That chuckle could mean anything.

As the black-haired beauty was tying her working apron on her back, Wendy pointed to her name tag and said, “You’re Miss… Bae Joo Hyun…?”

The lady looked down on her name tag and said, “Ah, yeah, that’s my name. You can call me Joohyun Unnie.”

After her brief introduction, Joohyun told Wendy to take a seat somewhere at the small dining area quickly got to work. She began unwrapping previously baked bread and neatly laying them on counters, defrosting stored cakes, placing pre-prepared dough in the oven, and rearranging displays.

Wendy felt bad that the lone unnie had to do everything herself, so Wendy went up to Joohyun and asserted that she would lend a helping hand. Although Joohyun did not want to ask for help, she could not do much about Wendy’s insistence. It was difficult to stop someone with so much desire to show kindness. If this was to increase chances of getting hired, she was doing it wrong, because Joohyun probably had no say in who gets hired in this bakery. But no, Wendy was not doing this to demonstrate her hardworking attitude; she was purely doing this out of her pure considerate heart. With the help of Wendy, Joohyun finished the set up earlier than when she would do it alone.

“Thanks,” Joohyun plainly said with a slight smile that came off colder than it should have.

Wendy just stiffly bowed and said, “Please tell me if you need any more help.”

“No, it’s fine.” The way Joohyun said that sent more chills down Wendy’s spine. She was so pretty and was so brief with her words. Is it because she is shy? Is it because she has an accent? She seems introverted and soft-spoken… Wendy knew that if she was to work here, she probably needed to exert effort in getting closer to Miss Bae Joohyun. Being in harmony with co-workers in the workplace was essential after all.

While waiting for the clock to strike 10, Joohyun just awkwardly stood behind the counter, while Wendy just sat by one of the dining tables. Neither of them talked. Wendy was slightly nervous about approaching the expressionless Joohyun. Maybe it was because of Joohyun’s cold beauty, or because of her nervousness about the job interview that she found Joohyun slightly scary. She wanted to get closer to her though. As much as Wendy loved baking, she wanted to get along with people.

As Wendy sat there, holding her red velvet cupcakes close to her and thinking of ways to keep this stale atmosphere from being too awkward, Joohyun unexpectedly approached her and sat on the seat across her. Though Joohyun’s cold aura still made rookie Wendy nervous, a sudden spark of curiosity and innocence in Joohyun’s eyes was brought to light from the rays refracted by sun-kissed glass window.

“So, Wendy from Canada, huh?” Her sudden interest caught Wendy off-guard.

“Yup. I was born here in Korea, but I pretty much grew up there.”

“Wow, I’d like to go visit Canada someday,” Joohyun said, her eyes still fixed on Wendy. It was starting to feel uncomfortable for the latter to be stared at like that.

“Well it is a nice place,” Wendy replied, remembering all the good memories of growing up in Canada. “I still miss it often. I always think of my family and old friends every night. I hope they are doing well without me.”

Joohyun’s gaze softened with sympathy. “So, your family’s still in Canada?”

“I came here alone as an exchange student because it has always been my dream to visit Korea. It has been a great experience so far, but I do miss them.”

“I guess we have somethin’ in common. I’m from Daegu. Not as far as Canada, but still... I miss my family too. Don’t you feel lonely sometimes?”

Wendy lightened up and chuckled. “No, actually. I was blessed with great people. As a matter of fact, I live in my best friend’s house. If it were not for her family, I would probably feel so lonely.”

“That’s good.” Joohyun smiled. Well, at least this kid Wendy has friends taking care of her. As for me, well… Joohyun would rather not bring her loneliness back into her thoughts again. After meeting Seulgi the other day, she wanted to be a little more outgoing and positive. And she was taking challenges one step at a time—by being friendly to this new stranger, Wendy. If she wanted to have friends, she figured maybe she needed to make a move and try to get to know people more.

After a while, Joohyun pointed to the paper bag containing the cupcakes that Wendy held so dearly. “What’s that?”

“This? Oh, just red velvet cupcakes I made, as a gift to the shop owner in case I will need to give a sample of my baking skills. Would you like to try some?” Wendy said, giving away her North American accent upon mentioning the “red velvet cupcakes.”

Struck by the bright rays seeping through the glass, Joohyun’s cold aura seemed to have faded away, and her face lit up with a sweet grin. “Can I?”

Wendy took out the transparent container and opened the lid. She pulled out a cupcake with careful hands to make sure the white, swirly icing was not ruined. She then held it out to Joohyun, who began to examine it with awe.

“Looks really good,” Joohyun complimented her. “You sure you’re just a high schooler? You seem to be a pro at this. This—it looks too pretty to be eaten!”

“Please enjoy it. I made it with love,” Wendy told her in a really cheesy way, all while trying to hide the redness flushing through her cheeks upon hearing Joohyun’s velvet-like voice and cute Gyeongsang Province accent resonate such sweet flattery. “I love baking. That is why I really want this job. It’s my dream job.”

“Well, the love you put in it truly shows,” Joohyun told her with a grin. After taking a bite, the soft, spongy texture and the mild sweetness of the velvet cake, and the balancing acidity of Wendy’s lemon cream cheese icing left Joohyun speechless.

“Well, how was it?” Wendy asked.

“Amazin’, wow…” Joohyun ate the whole thing scrumptiously, as if nothing else in the world mattered—as if it was the most amazing cupcakes she had ever had in her life. If Wendy really wanted this, there was no reason for her not to get this job. “You should be hired! Y’know what? When the boss comes in, I’ll vouch for you. I’ll convince her to take you in myself if I have to. I’ll help you get your dream job!”

Joohyun worked until noon at the bakery, rested for a bit in the afternoon, and then rode the bus to the Xiah Dragon Noodles, a Chinese restaurant she worked at in the evening. With her black hair and apron tied, she got down to business. The setting sun called in more customers as the twilight passed, and the restaurant got busier as the evening drew on. The orders for jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles), jjampong (spicy seafood noodles), tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) kept the cashier’s bell ringing and waitresses’ footsteps running. It was hectic, but Joohyun did not mind as long as she was getting paid at the end of the day. It was less stressful than her studies and her internship, and she needed the extra money after all.

At around 9:30 p.m., the business started slowing down. Joohyun’s shift was also about to end by 10 o’clock. As Joohyun idly stood behind the cashier waiting for new orders to be prepared, the sudden bright ringing of chimes snapped her back to her senses. A new customer had entered. It had been a while since a new person entered the premises, so Joohyun’s eyes were easily drawn to this new character. Like a curious child, the customer kept looking around the small diner’s simple interior of red walls and dim lanterns. Her face was shrouded by the shadow cast by her white baseball cap, but the closer she came to the cashier, the more familiar she looked to Joohyun. Then she realized, it was the bear-like high school girl she met the other day—Kang Seulgi.

Before Joohyun could make any remark, the girl took a glance at Joohyun from behind the counter and stopped on her tracks. Her jaw dropped and her lips quivered, as if the words she was about to say had a difficult time slipping out of . Finally, she uttered, in an awkwardly loud fashion, “Unnie?!”

“Joohyun, orders for table 5 is done!” called out the cook from the open kitchen behind the counter. Amidst being at loss for words at seeing the baby bear again, Joohyun was suddenly reminded that she still had a job to do and hurriedly took the plates to table 5.

After Joohyun set down the plates on table 5, she turned around and almost had a heart-attack upon seeing Seulgi Bear just right behind her, staring at her with those sleek, black eyes. The bear’s plump lips where still slightly gaped.

Seulgi stood still before the surprised waitress, taking a good look and making sure it was the right person—the person she saw at the bus stop on that one rainy day. And how true it was! This pretty waitress with the porcelain white skin and beautiful pearl-like eyes was the exact same unnie that had called her a bear. Although it was late at night and the bags under Joohyun’s eyes were slightly becoming more apparent after a long, rough day, Seulgi still could not help but think that this girl was too pretty to be working in such a simple diner.

“You work here?” Seulgi asked, closely looking at Joohyun’s face.

“Um, yes,” Joohyun answered awkwardly. She then scooted over to pass by Seulgi’s side, looked back and said, “Is there anything you would like to order?”

“Jjajangmyeon…,” Seulgi said in a soft, embarrassed voice. For some reason she felt very uncomfortable about ordering food from Joohyun. It just did not feel right to her. This is the second time she was asking the pretty unnie for food!

“Please take a seat. We’ll serve the food in a few minutes,” Joohyun held her hand over an empty table to show Seulgi where she could sit. Then she pointed over to one corner of the room where the free condiments and side-dishes are. “You may take some free side dishes for yourself while you wait. There’s also water in the fridge so help yourself.”

“Okay, thank you.” Seulgi slowly walked over to the seat Joohyun pointed to as she watched the waitress unnie quickly walk back to the counter to inform the cooks of the new order. Then before Joohyun could rest again, some of the other customers finished eating, so she had to clean the tables and bring the dishes back to the kitchen. Seulgi sat there, keeping a close eye on her and thinking, Whoa, unnie’s really working hard…

Finally, Joohyun came back to Seulgi’s table with her order. To Seulgi’s surprise, her plate seemed bigger than everyone else’s. Joohyun then leaned down to meet Seulgi’s eye level and whispered with a mischievous smile, “You get a slightly bigger serving.”

“Huh, why?” Seulgi did not order a bigger serving—although that would certainly be great.

“Friend-upgrade,” Joohyun said with a chuckle. Before leaving to do her duties again, she patted Seulgi’s shoulder and said, “Bears need to eat plenty, so enjoy your food!”

Seulgi sat still on her seat as her eyes followed the slim figure of Bae Joohyun, power-walking back to the counter. Friend upgrade? Seulgi’s eyes darted down on her huge plate of oh-so-savory, mouth-watering jjajangmyeon and could not believe any of this.

Suddenly, there was a thump on her table, making her head jerk up again. There before her was a water pitcher and two stainless steel cups. A moment later, a bowl of hot seafood noodles was set just before her, by none other than Joohyun herself. Seulgi’s eyes grew wide.

“Oh no, no more extra freebies please! This is too much!” Seulgi exclaimed. Not even her dreams manifested a situation so heavenly. This entire scene was just downright outrageous.

Joohyun gave a hearty laugh and pulled the seat right across the silly little bear. She then seated herself and took out two sets of chopsticks from the small compartment on the side of the table. An extended hand was then before Seulgi, insisting on having her take a set of chopsticks. Since she was too stunned about seeing Joohyun earlier and having an extra big plate of jjajangmyeon that she had not even taken some chopsticks and water for herself.

“This jjamppong is for me, stupid,” Joohyun playfully said with a giggle. Then she lightly jerked her wrist and said, “Go on, take it,” referring to the chopsticks that were still on her hand.

“Oh.” Seulgi could not have felt more stupid being called stupid. She reached two hands out to accept the chopsticks and uttered, “Thank you.”

Joohyun went on to pour water for both of their cups and pushed the other cup closer to Seulgi. Without further ado, Joohyun just began slurping noodles in front of Seulgi and even lifted her bowl to sip some of the spicy red soup. To Seulgi’s surprise, pretty little Joohyun Unnie ate like a mukbang star—the ones who broadcast themselves eating deliciously over the internet. She devoured her food as if it was the most scrumptious meal ever, even getting blots of red soup on her chin. This girl with the princess-like face was more down-to-earth than some normal peasants of modern society. It was a strange yet refreshing sight. Feeling hungry after seeing the way Joohyun ate, Seulgi then began to eat her noodles as well.

“It’s good to see you again,” said Seulgi. “I’m really thankful you treated me to coffee the other day.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Joohyun lied. At the same time, she felt a burning sensation down due to the spice, causing her to cough two or three times. Treating Seulgi to coffee was not “nothing.” It cost her precious money she was saving, and yet, it seemed like the money she paid had given her more. Seulgi’s presence that day was like a ray of light seeping through the gray skies. The grayness of her monotonous day-to-day was broken by a simple soul. Joohyun could not have been more thankful to feel less-lonely, even though it was just for a little while.

“Thanks for the up-size jjajangmyeon as well,” Seulgi continued.

“Oh, don’t thank me for that.” Then Joohyun leaned closer and said in a softer voice, “The restaurant has a secret friend-upgrade policy. If you know a staff member—bigger serving. It happens sometimes. Not all the time though, so you can’t expect too much.”

“Do you work here often?” Seulgi asked.

“Weekends from 5 pm.”

“I see. What time does your shift end?”

“‘Round 10. Right about now. Why’d you think I’m eating here with you?”

For a while, the two of them silently chewed their food. Then Joohyun asked Seulgi, “What’s a high school kid like you doin’ here at night though? It’s way past dinner.”

“It’s way past dinner for you too.”

“Touché. But really, what’re you doin’ eatin’ out at night?”

Seulgi gave off a heavy sigh. “I just finished studying and decided to look for something to eat. I can’t be bothered going home to a cold soup that I have to heat in the microwave.”

Joohyun put her chopsticks down on the table and leaned back on her chair. “High school students have it rough these days, huh?”

“I don’t know,” Seulgi said as she wiped her lips with a napkin and placed her chopsticks down on the table as well. “Unnie, have you ever felt like everyone else is doing better than you? Like everyone else is doing great—or average at least—while you’re the only one destined for failure? I feel like I’m the only one struggling here sometimes.”

A pout was formed on Joohyun’s face. The bubbly, carefree little bear—where has it gone? Just the thought of a happy child being disheartened by pressures of the world upset her. “Is that how you feel right now?”

“Yeah. It’s just really difficult nowadays,” Seulgi admitted. “Obviously it’s not true that I’m not the only one in the world having a difficult time, but it does feel that way, and it’s a little discouraging.”

Joohyun stopped to think for a while, trying to formulate the right words to say. The bubbly, carefree bear was no different from her. Everyone has a set of problems—a set of hardships. Joohyun had also been through that stage; she knew all about the pressure of senior high. At that time, the thought of approaching a crossroad was petrifying, yet it was inevitable. The farther you go down that journey called life, the rougher the road gets. With that in mind, Joohyun wanted to comfort the girl, but what can she say?

“Seulgi,” Joohyun said as she reached out to lay a soft touch on Seulgi’s arm, “I don’t think anyone in this world has got it all together. Everyone has their own problems; some are probably better at hiding it than others. We’re all just tryin’ to live life the best we can, pretending we know what we’re doing, even though we really don’t. But that’s okay. You learn as you go along, I guess. My mom once told me, ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself for the things you can’t control. But don’t give up. It ends when you stop trying.’”

Seulgi kept quiet, trying to digest what Joohyun had just said to her. She wasn’t sure what it quite meant, but the “don’t give up” part ringed clear. Little did she know that Joohyun was actually directing those words to herself. The moment Joohyun ended her little speech, she felt a lump form in . She quickly withdrew her hand from Seulgi’s arm and grabbed her spoon to sip some soup.

After they had finished eating, Joohyun took the plates back to the kitchen and prepared to head back home. When she got out of the restaurant, she noticed that Seulgi was still there, standing by the entrance.

“Aren’t you going home?” Joohyun asked as she approached the lone girl. “Don’t stay out too late. It’s chilly.”

Seulgi turned around and watched as Joohyun walked toward her. “Are you going home?”

“I’m walking to the bus stop.”

“Me too. Let’s walk together, Unnie,” Seulgi said with a smile. She did not want to leave Joohyun yet, and she was not being very sly about it either. She wanted to keep talking to her for some reason.

Joohyun just chuckled and let Seulgi tag along. It was an odd, yet familiar feeling—having a younger girl cling to her and call her “unnie.” Usually, she ate alone, studied alone, and walked to places alone. She had been lonely for a long time. Having company made her feel all warm and giddy inside. Just hearing the word “together” made her long, exhausting day seem so much brighter.

As they slowly walked together along the paved gray streets that cool, clear night, Seulgi started trying to get to know more about Joohyun.

“Where are you from? Your accent is kinda different,” Seulgi asked.

“I’m from Daegu.”

“Oh, really? I’ve never been to Daegu.”

“Nothin’ much there.”

“Oh.”

Joohyun did not want to disappoint the Seoul girl by giving a dissatisfactory assessment of her hometown, so she added, “But feel free to visit someday if you want. We have decent food, and lots of mountains. Palgong Mountain is really pretty during the autumn season. There are also lots of good street food at Seomun Market during evenings. I recommend eating ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes) with napjak mandu (flat dumplings). I tried lookin’ for napjak mandu here but it just isn’t common.”

“If I go, you should take me on a tour. Can I stay in your parents’ house?” Seulgi asked so light-heartedly.

Joohyun just forced a smile. She had no idea how to react to that. Things were not exactly doing well in the Bae household lately. If she and Seulgi go down that path of conversation in all honesty, she knew the mood will just go downhill. Joohyun never liked voicing out her problems. Although she has been trying to be more friendly, she was not ready for that just yet.

When they were finally nearing the bus stop, a set of bright lights flashed from a distance and along with a rumble of an engine. Joohyun craned her neck and went on tip-toes to see the incoming vehicle clearer.  “Oh, hey, I think that’s my bus!”

The two girls jogged to the stop just in time. Seulgi was going to take a different bus, so Joohyun went ahead to catch her ride. Before Joohyun climbed the bus, she looked back at Seulgi one last time. “See you next time, little bear!”

Seulgi stood there before the closing doors of the bus with one hand dejectedly waving Joohyun goodbye. The engine reverberated and the wheels turned. Soon, the bus that carried Joohyun away from her went down the slope, yet Seulgi continued to watch it even as it disappeared from her view. See you next time… I hope.

With a slow circular motion of Joohyun’s hand, the view of the road beyond the fogged-up glass was revealed. It was a dark night lit up by tiny lights speedily passing by. As Joohyun sat on the rattling seat of the shaky bus, her eyes flocked from one passenger to another, and she thought, I guess we all have our own set of problems. But then the charming image of Seulgi smiling from ear to ear and laughing so carefree in delight flashed before her eyes again. Sometimes, it’s hard not to lose that smile…but I hope she keeps smiling, for her sake.

Later that night, Seulgi came home to see Wendy in their room reading a book. Wendy then looked up and greeted her with a wide grin on her face. It was obvious she had nothing but good news for the bear.

“Seulgi, you would not believe what just happened today!”

“Did you get the job?”

“Yes, I am so happy!” Wendy held her two fists together and was about to jump for joy.

“Really? You get to work at a bakery now?” Seulgi had other thoughts in mind after meeting Joohyun and was still at the verge of processing whatever Wendy just said earlier.

“Yeah!”

After it finally dawned on Seulgi that she should be rejoicing with her best friend’s little victory, the two girls held hands and jumped up and down in sheer happiness. “That’s great, Wendy! Now you get to be a real Baking Queen!”

“When I got there earlier, I ended up running into an unnie named Bae Joohyun who worked there…,” Wendy then began to recount all that happened to her that morning. “…She ended up introducing me to the shop owner who happened to be an amazing pastry chef, and…”

While listening to Wendy’s lengthy, but swiftly spoken anecdote, Seulgi stopped smiling and asked, “Wait, what?” She heard something—was that right? Did Wendy just mention…?

“…Chef Taeyeon told me that I could assist on weekends and I’m just very thankful to Joohyun Unnie, you know. She was so nice, though she totally intimidated me at first—,” Wendy continued talking really quickly, as if she was rapping to some fast-paced beat no one else could hear.

“Wait, wait. Slow down! What did you say?”

“Huh?” Sometimes Wendy could not even tell she was speed talking through her entire story.

“You mentioned an ‘unnie’!”

“Joohyun Unnie?” Wendy recalled. “The unnie who works at the bakery?”

Seulgi sat there with an unreadable vacant face, as if her slow brain was still trying to process all this stimuli from Wendy. Joohyun. Bae Joohyun. Her named echoed in the void. “Uh, is she pretty?”

“Huh? Sluggie, focus here!” Wendy furrowed her brows at such an awkwardly timed, seemingly off-topic question. Wendy and Soo-Young nicknamed Seulgi “Sluggie” once. Slow as a slug, Seulgi could sometimes seem like a total dimwit for her slow reactions and oddly random statements. Wendy snapped her fingers before the bear’s eyes, trying to get “Sluggie” to wake up from whatever dreamland she had drifted off to.

“Black hair? Pale face? Beautiful eyes? Perfectly-shaped nose? University student? Daegu accent?” Seulgi went on. “Bae Joohyun?”

Wendy loudly gasped. “You know her?!”

“Yes, she’s the super nice unnie I told you and Soo-Young about the other day—the one I met at the bus stop! I coincidentally just met her again earlier when I ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant! She works there too!”

“No way!” Wendy could not believe any of it. “Is this destiny or what?!”

Author's Note: